SECP says reforms under way to deepen Pakistan's bond market
The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan is taking steps to strengthen the country's domestic currency bond market, SECP chairman Dr Kabir Ahmed Sidhu said at the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Thursday, describing the listing of Naya Nazimabad Apartments REIT on the exchange as an important milestone.
Sidhu said the size of Pakistan's real estate sector exceeded Rs7 trillion and argued that real estate investment trusts could play an important role in documenting the sector and in giving ordinary citizens an opportunity to invest in it. The SECP, he said, was introducing major reforms and facilitating investment in the REIT sector.
According to the chairman, the commission has achieved significant milestones over the past eight months and has proposed amendments to laws aimed at facilitating businesses and developing the market. He said proposed amendments to insurance and company laws were currently under consideration by parliament, and that important amendments had also been proposed to regulations governing the non-banking financial sector. Digitalisation of the regulatory system, simplification of legal compliance and improved market access were among the SECP's top priorities, he said, adding that the commission was ensuring compliance with regulations to promote transparency in the market and protect investors.
On capital raising, Sidhu said Rs26 billion had been raised through 13 initial public offerings so far in 2026, with companies from the manufacturing, agriculture, real estate, energy and technology sectors raising capital through the stock market. He said improved access to the market had resulted in a 36 per cent increase in the number of investors, with 168,000 new investors joining since January, taking the total to 630,000. Several long-standing issues faced by foreign investors, particularly Chinese investors, had been resolved, he added.
The chairman said the SECP was working on an initiative to increase the number of capital-market investors, and that the company registration process had been further simplified.
